- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

ATLE to Host Presentations Using Course Content to Promote Belonging and Equity

John Hill — Mon, 19 Sep 2022 12:39:40 +0000

The ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Academy for Teaching and Learning will host a special presentation on promoting belonging and equity through course content on Thursday, Sept. 22. Guest presenter Primrose Igonor serves as director of the Connections Center/Belonging & Equity at Marion Technical College in Ohio. As college campuses grow increasingly diverse, students should see themselves reflected in course content as this leads to greater persistence, retention, and overall student success. In this session, she will provide practical ways in which educators can promote diversity and inclusion through their course content and feel confident doing so. This can lead to students engaging in more critical thinking and viewing diverse topics from multiple perspectives. The free Lunch and Learn is open to all faculty and staff at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. It will be held from 12:15-1:30 p.m. in Ottenheimer Library Room 535 and virtually via Zoom. A second campus-wide discussion will take place from 3-4:30 p.m. in Ottenheimer Library Room 100A and virtually via Zoom. This opportunity is designed to explore practical and intentional ways ��Vlog��ý Little Rock can create a sense of belonging and foster critical thinking through inclusive course content. Born in Uganda and raised in South Africa, Igonor is a clinical psychologist who has worked internationally in South Africa, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Canada. She is passionate about diversity issues and community building.

Largest NSF Grant Awarded to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Will Support Ongoing Undergraduate STEM Education Efforts

John Hill — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 13:05:40 +0000

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has been awarded a nearly $2 million grant from the (NSF) to enhance teaching and learning and to promote student success in undergraduate STEM education. This is the largest grant ��Vlog��ý Little Rock has ever received from the National Science Foundation. The $1,999,986 five-year grant from the NSF will be used to provide support for faculty and students in the Donaghey College of STEM with a specific focus on supporting students from historically underserved groups. The researchers will use the grant, “NSF IUSE Institutional and Community Transformation Level II: Upholding Active Learning Reform in STEM,” to grow the use of evidence-based teaching practices to increase student engagement and retention in undergraduate STEM education. “A strong STEM workforce is critical for our country,” said Dr. Lawrence Whitman, dean of the Donaghey College of STEM. “To build and sustain a strong STEM workforce, we must educate students for next-generation careers. To properly educate these students, we must transform our education. I am beyond pleased to see that this funding will continue the excellent work of our faculty. We are grateful to the National Science Foundation and their support of this transformational project.” The interdisciplinary team led by Dr. Mark Baillie, assistant professor of chemistry, is a collaboration with faculty from the STEM Education Center (Dr. Michael Moore, director of undergraduate research and mentoring), the School of Education (Dr. Lundon Pinneo, assistant professor) and the Office of the Provost (Dr. David Montague, associate vice chancellor for student success). Ronia Kattoum, an advanced instructor of chemistry and Ph.D. student in applied sciences-chemistry, is working as the project’s graduate assistant. “Our main focus is to increase the number of underserved students who successfully complete STEM courses,” Pinneo said. “We want to identify current barriers for faculty and improve support systems so campus-wide we can close the equity gap.” Students from historically underserved populations, first-generation students, and Pell Grant recipients are likely to encounter barriers to their success in their lecture-based STEM courses. Baillie says that traditional teaching methods are often a barrier to students reaching their potential. “People’s journeys through education are very different,” Baillie said. “If you can create a classroom environment that gives everyone the opportunity to engage, then everyone will learn and progress.” To support faculty members as they learn about and adopt more student-centered and inclusive teaching strategies, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock will utilize successful NSF-funded interventions including the expansion of the Mobile Institute on Scientific Teaching (MoSI) and the Learning Assistant Program in the Donaghey College of STEM. Currently, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock is the only higher education institution in Arkansas with these two highly successful programs that focus on faculty and student success. The grant builds upon the previous success of these programs by allowing many more faculty and students within the Donaghey College of STEM to participate in these initiatives.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock teaching assistants and professors participate in the Mobile Institute on Scientific Teaching workshop. Photos by Ben Krain.

“��Vlog��ý Little Rock has a rich history in the STEM area, with innovative programming for faculty as well as major initiatives focused on student success,” Montague said. “This funding will certainly help promote the future of STEM education in Arkansas.” MoSI workshops focus on active learning and other evidence-based teaching practices. Research on teaching and learning shows that students are 1 ½ times more likely to pass classes in active learning classrooms than in traditional lectures. Prior to receiving this grant, about 20 percent of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock faculty completed the weeklong workshop on their own time. The grant will reward future faculty to participate in the workshop by providing a $500 stipend for 75 STEM faculty members to complete the workshop over the next five years. Starting in the spring 2023 semester, faculty will be recruited to join the first cohort of participants. The grant also provides a $975 stipend for 605 students to participate in the Learning Assistant Program. The assistants will provide peer learning support for more than 9,000 of their classmates over the five years of the grant. The stipends will allow greater access for many students who previously couldn’t afford to volunteer for this leadership role. By the end of the project, ��Vlog��ý Little Rock plans to support approximately 250 learning assistants per year. Further opportunities will be provided for faculty who have successfully completed the MoSI workshop to improve their teaching skills. The researchers will form Communities of Practice – small groups of up to five faculty members who will meet bi-weekly to offer peer support and build out their expertise. Faculty who participate will each receive stipends of $1,000. The grant will also fund one graduate student and one postdoctoral researcher for five years, as well as a series of speakers that will focus on implementing student-centered practices. ��Vlog��ý Little Rock will also create a Community of Transformation annually for faculty members who have participated in the Communities of Practice. This group of 10 change agents will discuss and plan efforts to enact policy changes focusing on student success and closing the student equity gap. The grant also provides up to $5,000 a year for five years for faculty and administrators in the Donaghey College of STEM to implement ideas that emerge from the Community of Transformation. “We want to emphasize how the departments and programs are encouraging their own teachers,” Moore said. “This is a multi-prong approach by the whole university on how to support a successful culture of teaching. It speaks to the credibility of the support we have across the university and from our partners. This is a win for ��Vlog��ý Little Rock.” Caption: ��Vlog��ý Little Rock professors, from left, Mark Baillie, Ronia Kattoum, Michael Moore, David Montague, and Lundon Pinneo are working on a National Science Foundation project to improve undergraduate education in the Donaghey College of STEM. Photo by Ben Krain.

Basu Joins ��Vlog��ý Little Rock as Computer Science Professor, Emerging Analytics Center Fellow

John Hill — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 12:46:36 +0000

Dr. Aryabrata Basu, an expert in virtual reality and digital visualization, has joined the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as an assistant professor of computer science and research fellow for the Emerging Analytics Center, the university’s premier research center for virtual/augmented reality, visualization, and interactive technologies. “I am very excited to join ��Vlog��ý Little Rock,” Basu said. “I have already met the great faculty members and support staff in the Department of Computer Science and the Emerging Analytics Center, and I look forward to the teaching and research opportunities to come. There is a lot of potential here to expand upon, and I want to bring new paradigms of visualization to the people through the Emerging Analytics Center.” Basu’s research includes human-computer interaction, investigating human spatial decision making in virtual reality, and enhancing virtual reality immersive experiences in education. Some of his past projects include the ,��, and . “Dr. Basu’s enthusiasm is infectious. During the interview process, Dr. Basu reached out to Dr. Ghosh in the Department of Chemistry to explore research collaboration opportunities,” said Dr. Albert Baker, chair of the Department of Computer Science. “This bodes extremely well for cross-disciplinary collaboration. With his expertise in extended reality (AR/VR), natural user interfaces, computer graphics, AI, and haptics, he will enhance and expand research and teaching in established opportunity areas offered by the department. His record of research in the application of his expertise in the healthcare field opens exciting opportunities for research funding. We welcome Dr. Basu with open arms.” A native of Kolkata, India, Basu joins ��Vlog��ý Little Rock from Emory University, where he spent six years as a visual information specialist and research scientist at the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship. He was responsible for creating digital media and 3D models through graphic design, imaging processing, and data visualization for digital scholarship programs as well as researching new methods of visualizing data, including 3D, virtual reality, and augmented reality. Basu has a bachelor’s degree in information technology from West Bengal University of Technology in India and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Georgia. Basu and his wife Dipannita live in Little Rock with their four-year-old son Aaron.

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

ATLE to Host Presentations Using Course Content to Promote Belonging and Equity

Largest NSF Grant Awarded to ����Vlog��ý Little Rock Will Support Ongoing Undergraduate STEM Education Efforts

Basu Joins ����Vlog��ý Little Rock as Computer Science Professor, Emerging Analytics Center Fellow

- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

Largest NSF Grant Awarded to ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Will Support Ongoing Undergraduate STEM Education Efforts

Basu Joins ��Vlog��ý Little Rock as Computer Science Professor, Emerging Analytics Center Fellow